[This program, from Minnesota Public Radio, will be carried by other stations at their convenience of days & time]

American Radio Works Special: Radio Fights Jim Crow

Before Rosa Parks' historic refusal to give up her bus seat and before the famous freedom marches of mid-century, African Americans fought racial discrimination through the most influential mass medium of the 1930's and 40's - radio. Producer Stephen Smith documents a pioneering effort to break the hold of Jim Crow laws and customs that gripped the nation in the early 20th century.

During the World War Two years, a series of groundbreaking radio programs tried to mend the deep racial and ethnic divisions that threatened America. At a time when blacks were usually shown on the
radio as lazy buffoons, the federal government and civil rights activists used radio for a counter attack. Did radio unify America in the face of war? This is "Radio Fights Jim Crow".